Friday, February 20, 2015

Putin Aide Linked to Maidan Killings

Paul
Goble

Staunton, February 20 – In the
classic film about Watergate, “All the President’s Men,” Deep Throat warns that
in unmasking a conspiracy, it is important not to go too fast but rather to
build from the outer rings into the center. Otherwise, the conspirators will
feel protected, and the possibility that anything will be done to those really
responsible is diminished.

And while it is just as obvious now to
those with eyes to see that Vladimir Putin has orchestrated the attack on
Ukraine and Ukrainians as it was that Richard Nixon organized the break-in and
cover-up, it is important to build the case against the Kremlin leader in the
same way as it was built against the disgraced American president.

In addition, Dmitry Muratov, the
editor of “Novaya gazeta,” said on Ekho Moskvy that his paper now has in its
possession a document which confirmed that “the plan of war in Ukraine was
developed in the administration of the president of Russia,” that is, by Putin’s
entourage (echo.msk.ru/programs/personalno/1494328-echo/).

The “document shows, Muratov said,
that this plan was developed in the Kremlin between February 4 and February 15
of last year, that is before Viktor Yanukovich fled from Kyiv. And it specifies
that Russia must intervene in Ukraine lest it lose control of gas pipelines and
a major market.

The Kremlin document specifies that
Moscow should exploit “the centrifugal strivings of various regions” of Ukraine
“with the goal of initiating in one form or another the unification of its
eastern oblasts to Russia.”First among
these, the document says, according to Muratov, should
be Crimea and Kharkiv.

And the Kremlin
plan also outlines Russia’s diplomatic strategy. Moscow must insist on talks to
“resolve the crisis,” even though it will have been the source of the problem.
Moscow must “demand federalization or even confederalization” of Ukraine to
block pro-Western groups in that country.

Then, the
document says, Crimea and other portions of southeastern Ukraine must then be
integrated into the Moscow-dominated customs union and the last step must be their
“unification” with Russia, because Russia, its diplomats will argue, “is the
only guarantor of economic development and social stability.”

At the very
least, these developments in the latest “case” should become the occasion for a
dramatic expansion in the list of Russian officials who should be prevented
from travelling to Western countries. But more than that, it should be the end
of those who try to present Putin as an innocent as far as Ukraine is
concerned.

As the Watergate
case showed 40 years ago, Putin will still have his defenders much as Nixon did
his. But the noose is tightening, and it is long past time to recognize that
Putin is guilty as charged whatever his supporters say and that like Nixon he
must be stopped before he does any more damage.